"I am by birth a free Commoner of England, and am thereby intailed or intituled unto an equall priviledge with your selfe, or the greatest men in England, unto the freedome and liberty of the Lawes of England."
William Thompson, 14. of December, 1647

Friday, 16 December 2011

Lord Hunt, out-going Press Complaints Commission major domo, has put forth the notion that the blogging world needs regulation. Purely voluntary of course, at least as long as it takes to squeeze the thin end of the wedge into place. His idea is that we bloggers should apply, with fee attached, for a 'kite mark' asserting our accuracy and trustworthiness. Needless to say I won't be applying.

Hunt is pushing the old myth that the blogging world is like the Wild West. In fact, we are accountable the same as anyone else, and those of us who pay attention are very much aware of how the state can and does take action to silence dissent and the free circulation of ideas when it feels threatened or else thinks it can get away with it, and how it has furnished the oligarchs with the legal tools to do the same (mind you, at this point of descent, is there any distinction between the corporations and the state?). Only yesterday I was reading of a police raid on someone in connection to the release of Climategate II emails.

No kite-mark here: William Munny violates terms and conditions at the Big Whiskey, Wyoming Bloggers Bash

The establishment hates the internet and would like to carve it up and control it, to boost their flagging credibility and sales. As a blogger, I take no lectures from the mainstream media on accuracy and telling the truth. You may get no more than the worm's eye view round here, but at least it's an honest worm, not some loose-arsed shill for the klepto-oligarchy and their control-freak minions.